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While “Pygmy” hunter-gatherers have generally been assumed to be the original inhabitants of the central African rainforest, recent studies dispute the viability of subsistence in tropical rainforests through foraging alone. There are, however, few studies that are based on sound data of actual long-term foraging. This paper examines the viability of “pure” foraging in tropical rainforests, based on data from participant observation of a long-term foraging expedition among the Baka in the northwestern Congo Basin. The group was observed to subsist solely on wild food resources, particularly wild yams, for two-and-half months. The study was carried out during the dry season when food resources are generally thought to be scarce in tropical rainforests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to estimate the prevalence and associated factors of undiagnosed hypertension (HTN) among adults in the Central African Republic (CAR). In the cross-sectional 2017 CAR (Bangui and Ombella M'Poko) STEPS survey, 3265 persons aged 25 to 64 years (non-pregnant and with complete blood pressure measurement), responded to an interview, biomedical and physical, including blood pressure, measurements. Undiagnosed HTN was classified as systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg and/or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg among adults who had never been told by a doctor or other health worker that they had raised blood pressure or hypertension and had not been taking antihypertensive medication. Binary logistic regressions are used to estimate factors associated with undiagnosed HTN. Among those with HTN (N = 1373), the proportion of undiagnosed HTN was 69.8% and 30.2% diagnosed HTN. In the adjusted logistic regression analysis, male sex (AOR: 2.12, 95% CI 1.39–3.23), current tobacco use (AOR: 1.58, 95% CI 1.03–2.42), and high physical activity (AOR: 1.93, 95% CI 1.00–3.71) were positively associated, and age (AOR: 0.75, 95% CI 0.59–0.96), and underweight (AOR: 0.58, 95% CI 0.37–0.90) were inversely associated with undiagnosed HTN. In addition, among men, ever screened for glucose (AOR: 0.07, 95% CI 0.02–0.27) was negatively associated with undiagnosed HTN, and among women, married or cohabiting (AOR: 1.20, 95% CI 1.00–1.44), current heavy drinking (AOR: 1.41, 95% CI 1.04–1.91) were positively associated with undiagnosed HTN. Seven in ten of the adult population with HTN had undiagnosed HTN in CAR. Efforts should be reinforced to screen for HTN in the general population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Partial thyroidectomy under local anaesthesia was performed in 49 subsequent individuals in the Central African Republic. Because of the shortage of medical resources, all patients with goitre were scheduled for an operation under local anaesthesia. There were no inclusion or exclusion criteria applied for patient selection for the procedure. Before the operation, patients had received an oral sedation and antibiotic. For infiltration anaesthesia, 1% lignocaine was used. Subtotal bilateral thyroidectomy was performed in 37 patients; 12 patients underwent lobectomy or partial lobectomy of the affected portion of the gland. There were no intraoperative complications in any of the patients. The mean time of the procedure averaged 127 min. There were no postoperative complications noticed in the reported group, and this includes also complications related to laryngeal nerve injury. General condition of the operated on patients allowed for full self-dependency within 4 to 6 h postoperatively. Patients remained under medical surveillance for mean 3 days, and cutaneous stitches were removed on the first postoperative day. General condition of all patients on the day of discharge from hospital was good. Surgery for goitre under local anaesthesia may be a safe alternative where general anaesthesia is not available or contraindicated for medical reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the association between female circumcision and infertility and fertility, using information from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). In Côte d'Ivoire and Tanzania, circumcised women had lower childlessness, lower infertility by age, and higher total fertility rates than women who were not circumcised; the reverse pattern prevailed in the Central African Republic. In all three countries, however, circumcised women grouped by age at circumcision did not have significantly different odds of infertility nor of having a child than did uncircumcised women, when the effects of covariates were controlled. Thus we find evidence suggesting that the practice of female circumcision does not have a statistically discernible effect on women's ability to reproduce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]